dagenham
It was supersonic in a dive
Oh, I didn't know that
It also had aerodynamic weaknesses - the first prototype had a tailplane problem which lead to both wings clapping hands and all where lost in the following crash
I thought that was a deep-stall related issue (happens to T-tailed planes). The airframe was subjected to 9g's.
What killed it after a fair few were built , but not put in to service, was not only polaris but the supercarrier ( nimitz class ?) programme
The first super-carriers were the USS Forrestal. Part of me honestly thinks it would have been interesting to see fleet-carriers that were more like the Midway size but with elevators, arrestor cables, and catapults to operate heavier aircraft (albeit a lower number). Sounds counter-intuitive but even if each carrier had a little bit less fighter capacity; if you had a significantly greater number of carriers, you would technically have more carrier-based fighters and attack-planes in total.
If you had a large number of carriers and one goes to the bottom, you lose a smaller percentage of your overall carrier strike force; if you have a few super-carriers, a loss is far more catastrophic; furthermore it will take longer to replace it.
and the fact the bomb bay doors sealong system was not massively reliable.
I'm surprised they couldn't fix it as Martin had built seaplanes before.
hval
Seaplanes may be split into two groups; float planes and flying boats. Neither is able to take of in particularly rough weather, in fact the weather needs to be relatively calm. Flying boats are able to take off in rougher weather than sea planes. Sea state/ water state limits the number of days that sea planes may take off; more so than an aircraft taking off from a runway on land.
The P6M was a flying-boat technically right?